1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image merging and displaying apparatus such as a personal computer, and a method capable of generating an image to be displayed on a display, and in particular, relates to an image generating and displaying apparatus that generates an easily confirmable image by merging a document image edited by a document editing device with another image in a unique manner and that displays the image on the display.
2. Discussion of the Background Art
In a background personal computer, a plurality of kinds of document images are edited by a plurality of kinds of document editing functions, such as a word processing function, a document making function using a spread sheet program such as LOTUS 1-2-3, and so on. Each of the document images is then displayed on a display of the personal computer so that a content thereof is confirmed before printing out the document images. It is generally preferable to a user that a content of such a reduced document image, rather than a layout thereof, can be easily confirmed when displayed on the display.
However, document images are edited by different kinds of editing functions, each of which tends to have a different size or a different ratio between a length and width, thereby resulting in non-unity of a size of the document image. For example, an area occupied by sentences, a heading of a first page, each generally edited by the word processing function, a document made by a spread sheet program, for example, and a substantial area of a photographic image edited by an image editor, for example, each vary depending upon such a kind of editing function.
As background arts, there exists numerous proposals that teach both an image data coding system that converts image data into code data and a reduction system that reduces an image constituted by image data. (1) For example, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 09-204158/1997, an algorithm that avoids disappearance of a thin line when a document image is reduced is well known to the public.
Further, as described in Japanese Patent Application laid Open No. 09-18701/1997, there exists numerous devices that teach a data thinning out technology. (2) Further, a data merging system that merges document image data with other data is also well known to the public. For example, as shown in Japanese Patent Application laid Open No. 06-4641/1994, document image data and additional drawing data each having a different data resolution level are separately stored in a memory. The document image data is then merged with the additional drawing data, and the thus merged data are thinned out to obtain an image to be displayed on a display or a printing image having a high quality of a hard copy.
However, when using the above-described background technology (1), a content of a document image edited by the word processing device, the document making device using a spread sheet program such LOTUS 1-2-3, for example, can not be clearly confirmed on a display by a user. Whereas, when using the above-described background technology (2), since a plurality of different document-editing devices are used at a same place, each of document images edited by the same may have a different size from each other.
Further, in the background arts a distinction-ability required to an image to be displayed on a display is insufficient. Further, it is completely different from a system that deals with document image data separately from sheet image data with which the document image is merged. In other words, the user generally feels difficulty in confirming each of contents of the images through the display when each of the images is different in size.
In consideration of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel image merging and displaying apparatus that forms an image to be displayed on a display.
The novel image merging and displaying apparatus includes a document image editing device that edits a document image by generating document image data. A document image data obtaining device obtains the document image data from the document editing device. A sheet image data generating device generates sheet image data that constitutes a sheet image having a prescribed size. An image data merging and reducing device first merges the document image data with the sheet image data, and second reduces an image constituted by the thus merged image data at a prescribed reduction rate by thinning out the image data to form an image to be displayed.
The novel image merging and displaying apparatus can as a further feature include a size data obtaining device that obtains size data indicating a size of the document image, a sheet image size selecting device that selects a sheet image size slightly larger than the document image, and a sheet image data generating device that generates sheet image data constituting a sheet image having a size in accordance with the sheet image size.
The novel image merging and displaying apparatus can as a further feature also include a data kind determining device that determines if the document image data includes image data such as photographic data or the like, and a document image data expanding device that expands a document image constituted by such photographic data or the like to the extent of a sheet image having a prescribed size at a prescribed enlargement rate when the document image data includes the photographic data or the like.
The novel image merging and displaying apparatus can as a further feature also include an image data form information obtaining device that obtains image data form information of a document image, a character data determining device that determines if the document image data generated by the document editing device includes text character data having non-layout information, a text character data obtaining device that obtains text character data from the document editing device, and a sheet image data generating device that generates sheet image data having layout information.
The novel image merging and displaying apparatus can as a further feature also include a blank-character-omitting device that closes up character data by omitting blanked character data and line data existing among the text character data.
The novel image merging and displaying apparatus can as a further feature also include a reduction/enlargement rate data storing device that stores a plurality of reduction/enlargement rate data therein each corresponding to a kind of the document editing device, an editor kind detecting device that detects a kind of the document editor, a reduction/enlargement rate data selecting device that selects a prescribed reduction rate data corresponding to the kind of document editing device detected by the editor kind detecting device, and a document image reducing device that reduces the document image at the thus determined reduction rate.
The novel image merging and displaying apparatus can as a further feature also include a data determining device that determines if document image data is obtained from the document editing device, a mark image data obtaining device that obtains mark image data from the document editing device when the data determining device does not determine the document image data, and an image data merging/reducing device that first merges the mark image data with the sheet image data, and second reduces an image constituted by the thus merged data to form an image to be displayed on the display.
The novel image merging and displaying apparatus can as a further feature also include a mark image data storing device that stores a plurality of mark image data each corresponding to a kind of the document editing device. The mark image data is read therefrom to be merged with the sheet image data when none of mark image data is obtained from the document-editing device.
The novel image merging and displaying apparatus can as a further feature also include an image size-determining device that determines if the document image reduced at the prescribed reduction rate is supposed to be less than a prescribed minimum size and an image data merging/reducing device that reduces the document image at another reduction rate so that an image to be obtained by reducing the document image accords with the minimum size, when the document image reduced at the prescribed reduction rate is supposed to be less than the prescribed minimum size.
The novel image merging and displaying apparatus can as a further feature also include a document image size determining device that determines if a document image reduced at a prescribed reduction rate is larger than a sheet image having a prescribed size that is maximum in use and an image data merging/reducing device that first merges the document image data with the sheet image data, and second reduces an image constituted by the thus merged image data to accord with the sheet image at another reduction rate when the document image size determining device determines that the document image reduced is supposed to be larger than the image sheet having the prescribed size.
The image merging and displaying apparatus can as a further feature also include additional image data generating device that generates additional image data that constitutes additional information, such as a document name and a number of pages, each to be put on corresponding kinds of the document images, and an image data merging/reducing device that merges the additional image data with the document image data.
The novel image merging and displaying apparatus can as a further feature include a pattern-data-storing device that stores pattern data therein that constitutes a pattern, such as a mono color pattern or the like used as a background of a sheet image, and a sheet image data generating device that generates sheet image data merged with some pattern data.